The best part of this is that the composer (at the piano) doesn't realize he's playing a GREAT PIECE, but just a piece for an audience, and gives it the proper cheeky tweaks on the nose that only the author has license to do. The orchestra must have been on pins and needles watching him play - because he was making the improvisations up as he went along. There were 'great' composers in the audience when he first performed this, and I'm sure they were astonished at his bravado. The recording also manages to definitely be an unmistakable product of its time.
The brasses and woodwinds are more "razzy", which you don't really hear now. There's an energy here I've NEVER heard, and a comic, capering quality that I think orchestras are afraid of now: this is Serious Music, folks! No fun allowed!
I agree. This rendition (see below) has some more of the character and humor of the original. Especially the clarinetist. Amazing that its played by a youth orchestra! 3rd Polish Nationwide Music Schools' Symphonic Orchestras Competition Maja Babyszka - piano Henryk Wierzchoń - conductor, Arthur Rubinstein School of Music Symphony Orchestra in Bydgoszcz, Poland recorded at Pomeranian Philharmonic Concert Hall in Bydgoszcz, June 21, 2015
@@georgiac5350 A time before pharma pills, chem trails, cell phones, massive pesticide use, globalization where foods were real and not pre-packaged chemically altered pseudo-foods, before fast food junk and definitely before TV.
This is the exact music your great grandfather heard because a Victor recording tech went to Aeolian Hall that night and recorded it from the stage and Victor used it for the Victor recording, February 11, 1924.
@@rjtwigg1 this was recorded on 6/10/1924 at Victor in New York, New York. This is an abbreviated version (compared to the debut on 2/14/1924) specifically arranged by Ferde Grofé to fit the limitations of the 12" shellac disc (divided into 2 parts, 1 for each side). It cuts the Shuffle theme, Gershwin's long piano solo, and part of the finale.
It's great hearing how musicians played with a different style back then. Adds a different vibe to the music. I'm a fan a the vibrato and the way the clarinet plays the beginning part
A big difference is that this version is actually played by a jazz/dance band (one of the best in the business, in fact), rather than a classical orchestra.
Intricate and sophisticated enough to warrant serious study by even the most conservative classical music snobs, and somehow also an absolute banger pop song in any era.
February 12, 1924: Rhapsody in Blue, by George Gershwin, performed for first time “The audience packed a house that could have been sold out at twice the size,” wrote New York Times critic Olin Downes on February 13, 1924, of a concert staged the previous afternoon at the Aeolian Hall in New York City. Billed as an educational event, the “Experiment In Modern Music” concert was organized by Paul Whiteman, the immensely popular leader of the Palais Royal Orchestra, to demonstrate that the relatively new form of music called jazz deserved to be regarded as a serious and sophisticated art form. The program featured didactic segments intended to make this case - segments with titles like “Contrast: Legitimate Scoring vs. Jazzing.” After 24 such stem-winders, the house was growing restless. Then a young man named George Gershwin, then known only as a composer of Broadway songs, seated himself at the piano to accompany the orchestra in the performance of a brand new piece of his own composition, called Rhapsody In Blue. “It starts with an outrageous cadenza of the clarinet,” wrote Downes of the now-famous two-and-a-half-octave glissando that makes Rhapsody in Blue as instantly recognizable as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. “It has subsidiary phrases, logically growing out of it… often metamorphosed by devices of rhythm and instrumentation.” The music critic of the New York Times was in agreement with Whiteman’s basic premise: “This is no mere dance-tune set for piano and other instruments,” he judged. “This composition shows extraordinary talent, just as it also shows a young composer with aims that go far beyond those of his ilk.” (more at history.com)
Histopathology examination revealed a “spongioblastoma multiforme” (which today is regarded as a malignant glioma). Without regaining consciousness after the operation, Gershwin died on the morning of July 11th, 1937.
I'm a huge fan of Rhapsody in Blue, have been since I got into vintage music in 2000s, and this earliest acoustic record is so special. I like how the clarinet kind of laughs at the beginning.... And of course that ethereal part at 5:38. it's my favorite, I love to hear different versions by different musicians, the way they handle it.... You may hear a banjo here, that's interesting.
This is the first recording, and the original instrumentation (done by an arranger but to Gershwin's instructions). It was later re-orchestrated a couple of times, for larger and larger forces. Banjos were often used in jazz/dance bands at that period.
What's wild is that he wrote this epic, immortal masterpiece at 25. Get it? 25! This is my favorite version, first, it has GG himself, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, that killer "laughing" clarinet, and I love the rawness of it, the passion that seems to be lacking in later recordings. I love it, always have. Edit: Now it's been 100 years since this was recorded. A century later it still packs the same emotional punch. RIP George, you left way too soon. ❤
After growing up with the smooth, Previn version, the first time hearing this, I wasn't sure whether I should cringe or laugh. On the second go...WOW. This....is....it !
I like the original version because it has a very spontaneous quality about it; I have read that the origianal performance was indeed spontaneous and improvised, with the band trying to follow Gershwin's exquisite play. All other versions have sought to capture the same quality and have fallen short, in my humble opinion.
This song, and this version, is one reason I love America - and I'm not American! It tells me the story of your history, your country, your drive and your optimism. I feel it through this music and I find it all so inspiring. This composition has contributed to the rich tapestry of the human arts, of which it can proudly take its place amongst the greatest of all the other achievements of civilisation.
@clszm There is so much that is great about this performance - and not just because it is the original. From Ross Gorman's laughing clarinet, to Gershwin's uncanny rhythm. Listen carefully to Gershwin's playing and you'll find it has more in common with the great pianists of the past such as Hofmann and Rachmaninoff than more modern pianists - including Bernstein. There is beautiful tone, a natural rubato, even distribution of the hands - and of course a wonderful sense of rhythm.
I saw the Reno Philharmonic do this on Tuesday. They took away most of the orchestra and played it as Gershwin wrote it, a rare event according to the conductor, Laura Jackson. And, listening to this old recording, I believe it!
What amazing and marveleus is to hear mthe original Rapsody in blue with Gerswin on the piano and the Paul Whiteman Orquestra recorded in 1924 90m years from now and still new and unforgettable. Also all the other recordings specially Astaire singing with Gershwin on the piano.
Such a breakthrough song..think, just a few years before this, songs like 'over there' and 'keep the home fires burning' were the top songs, which still had a very Victorian "family singing around the piano" kind of sound, this really took music into the modern age of the 20s.
It's interesting to enjoy the evolution of the recording technique from 1924 to the present time, but always expressing the same contagious emotional content that Gershwin and his interpreters pass on to us and will continue to pass on forever!
there's something similar in Georges Enescu rumanian rhapsody ( or poème roumain ) , you can hear a little piece of jumping klezmzer clarinet- same people , but two different sides of the ocean
manor kwesta Lol I know what you mean- but it was Ross Gorman, and by all accounts he wasn’t Jewish, which begs the question how did he get so familiar with Klezmer?
@mightybruno It's a tragedy for the world of music that Gershwin died just short of his 39th birthday.No telling what kind of additional great works could have been added to his catalog.If he had lived into the '50's or '60's,he might have dabbled with rock'n'roll,possibly also in country & western.If you can come across Bennett Cerf's tribute,read it,it's very good.
It's funny, if you go to settings and slow this down to .75 it sounds more like what we are used to hearing, at least in the orchestra parts. The piano solos seemed to be at a reduced tempo in this recording that we are used to.
According to Wikipedia, «To get the whole piece onto two sides of a 12-inch record it had to be played at a faster speed than usual in a concert, which gave it a hurried feel and some rubato was lost.»
@@Kurremkarmerruk1 I'm not sure i agree. There are massive cuts to make it fit, but the tempos are actually slower than Gershwin's piano roll versions, which don't have the same time constraints. Yes, not as much rubato, but that's to be expected. A solo pianist will always take more liberties than an orchestra or band.
There's a magic here that just wasn't there when Leonard Bernstein conducted the piece, as incredible as that performance was. There's something really special about this
making a sequel called Rhapsody in Green as Sammerson Bridge! available everywhere this august. all authentic instrumentation recorded exclusively with analog technology.
@ignaz1882 the most notable and impressive thing about Gershwin's pianism in this recording is his sparing use of the pedal. Gershwin in general is meant to be played pretty dry, and here you have it with Gershwin himself showing us exactly how to do it
The really neat part of the story about this song, was that Gershwin, didn't write the solos... he just named the soloist, and left the music up to the musician.
@@teomusic7531 it was only popular because it was done by a white composer, and even then it was controversial. Part of the appeal of white men doing jazz or rock n' roll was the provocative nature of the music (as the whites viewed it).
Until I heard this, I often wondered why they called Rhapsody in Blue jazz, Even the 1927 recording was refined compared to this version. By 1942 it had become a standard. I don't believe the raw energy captured here or the innovation allowed by Whiteman and Gershwin here have been reproduced.
Gershwin composed this very quickly, due to a deadline he forgot about or wasn’t told. He composed the orchestra part on the piano ,and Ferde Grofe orchestrated it. However the solo piano was not written down at all. Gershwin remembered/improvised it. There are several sources for this including an interview with Paul Whiteman.
You can have all the polished recordings of this you like, but the one for me is this 1924 original, played by George as he intended it to sound. Warts and all.
5:39 sounds totally different - is that a saxophone or what?? Usually you just hear a warm rush of strings. The circular riff is more deliberate, too. I LOVE the little solo bit on piano, how reflective it is, like hearing his thoughts.
Yes it is a tenor saxophone playing the melody beautifully...... 😊 I wonder what this generation would think of this kind of music..... Thoughts anyone????
I'm 24 currently, and I can assure you that I HATE almost all modern music. I love everything from classical to rock, but hardly anything newer than 2000. I would gladly take a piece like this one over ANY of the "music" being produced now. I'm a little ashamed of my generation for not understanding what music actually is.
At the end of this performance, someone stood up in the audience, and shouted that Gershwin was crazy. Mind you they only knew these old classical music then...
If by old classical music you mean Stravinsky, Bartok and Schoenberg, then yes. Much more radical music was being made at that time, but what's shocking in the Rhapsody is the heavy jazz influence which left pretentious concert goers wondering if they payed to hear classical and got jazz instead (God forbid!).
He reportedly said "you may not like it, but your kids are gonna love it" or something to that effect. I believe that's where Michael J. Fox gets that line in Back To The Future.
This is amazing! I was waiting to hear how they would execute the "romantic" part at 5:38...it's completely different to the orchestral version. You don't hear Rachmaninoff-esque grandeur. Instead a bluesy "comic" approach is implemented, like those silent comedy scenes where some poor guy tries to serenade a women way out of his league.
The world lost both men FAR too soon - Gershwin to a tumor and Miller to a (completely avoidable) plane crash. We'll never know how popular music would have changed if they'd been with us into the 1970s 😢 Miller's genius was as an editor rather than composer. He made multiple cuts to fit the main theme onto one side of a 78, just as he'd done with _In the Mood._ He also did a somewhat similar arrangement with the full AAF Orchestra including the string section: th-cam.com/video/oy1dZ3yQ7cc/w-d-xo.html P.S. He spelled his name "Glenn"
the monochromatic sounds sincere but simplistic, the poly chromatic sounds more profound but overwrought. The composition bounces between the two in perfect balance,
I have a request.. Some years ago, I saw a video here in youtube, where a lot of musicians were playing this song. And 2 women playing, one at the piano and the other playing the clarinet in a bar. The video begin with the clarinet lady playing, looking the piano girl´s eyes, and suddenly in the part were the Brass starts playing, all of the musicians appears playing and getting inside the bar... It was like a competition between those 2 girls. It looked like a 50-60´s videos beacuse it has no color and the clothes they were wearing was like the "Godfathers Movies" I´m looking for that video about 3 years. I can´t find it here, not even in vimeo or another kind of page were u can find videos. Can anyone help me to find it? Sorry my bad english. Spanish is my mother tongue...
Oscar Levant was the 1st to record it. The pianist who was supposed to play it didn't know how. Levant was there with Gershwin & watched him compose it. Levant could play it better than anyone. He's still the best!
Is this a recording of the actual February 12, 1924 concert at Aeolian Hall in New York that was broadcast on the radio? If not, when was this recorded?
100 years old today 2/12/24. Sounds fresh and alive!
😂
I love that laughing clarinet sound. No one does that anymore.
Just think- you just heard GEORGE GERSHWIN PLAY PIANO FOR YOU. Thank goodness for recordings!
Talia Dugan don't forget piano rolls :D
AMEN!
@@langleybryant8641 I could not click like enough
Is it possible to get his piano roll recordings on vinyl?
The best part of this is that the composer (at the piano) doesn't realize he's playing a GREAT PIECE, but just a piece for an audience, and gives it the proper cheeky tweaks on the nose that only the author has license to do. The orchestra must have been on pins and needles watching him play - because he was making the improvisations up as he went along. There were 'great' composers in the audience when he first performed this, and I'm sure they were astonished at his bravado. The recording also manages to definitely be an unmistakable product of its time.
The brasses and woodwinds are more "razzy", which you don't really hear now. There's an energy here I've NEVER heard, and a comic, capering quality that I think orchestras are afraid of now: this is Serious Music, folks! No fun allowed!
Maybe that's why nobody who play's music smiles anymore, except for me.
I agree. This rendition (see below) has some more of the character and humor of the original. Especially the clarinetist. Amazing that its played by a youth orchestra!
3rd Polish Nationwide Music Schools' Symphonic Orchestras Competition
Maja Babyszka - piano
Henryk Wierzchoń - conductor,
Arthur Rubinstein School of Music Symphony Orchestra in Bydgoszcz, Poland
recorded at Pomeranian Philharmonic Concert Hall in Bydgoszcz, June 21, 2015
The brass and woodwinds sound very 1920s. Lots of jazz influence!
@@georgiac5350 A time before pharma pills, chem trails, cell phones, massive pesticide use, globalization where foods were real and not pre-packaged chemically altered pseudo-foods, before fast food junk and definitely before TV.
And this version makes you want to dance! Most of the orchestral versions try to be so "grand" that they lose that jazzy beat.
My Great great grandfather was at the premiere of the rhapsody in blue and after that night it became his most favorite piece of music
This is the exact music your great grandfather heard because a Victor recording tech went to Aeolian Hall that night and recorded it from the stage and Victor used it for the Victor recording, February 11, 1924.
@@rjtwigg1 this was recorded on 6/10/1924 at Victor in New York, New York.
This is an abbreviated version (compared to the debut on 2/14/1924) specifically arranged by Ferde Grofé to fit the limitations of the 12" shellac disc (divided into 2 parts, 1 for each side). It cuts the Shuffle theme, Gershwin's long piano solo, and part of the finale.
This original version is so jazzy & sounds cutting edge.
Yes they say it was most jazzy originally.
Coca cola still had cocaine in it...
@@wombleofwimbledon5442) not since 1903
Early dixieland and jazz roots are much more apparent. Lighter and less pompous. Totally different than present-day performances. Love it!
I like both. But have a slight preferance for the more, as you say, pompous versions.
Mmmm... As the recording quality gets better, the clarinet gets less daring
the great anticlarinet conspiracy continues to this day
Oh so true!
This comment is genius
@@adonaiyah2196 thanks man 🤷♂️😂
@@Nannada1212 9 years later and you came back
And to think we are approaching a century from this original recording!?!
Still rocks and sends chills.
exactly! the 20th century was really astounding
It’s 100 years old now. Crazy.
It's great hearing how musicians played with a different style back then. Adds a different vibe to the music. I'm a fan a the vibrato and the way the clarinet plays the beginning part
A big difference is that this version is actually played by a jazz/dance band (one of the best in the business, in fact), rather than a classical orchestra.
The way the clarinetist pulls off that glissando is considered one of music's more epic moments in history.
Happy Birthday Rhapsody in Blue!!!
making a sequel called Rhapsody in Green as Sammerson Bridge! available everywhere this august. c:
Intricate and sophisticated enough to warrant serious study by even the most conservative classical music snobs, and somehow also an absolute banger pop song in any era.
Happy public domain day, all. This recording has entered public domain!
February 12, 1924: Rhapsody in Blue, by George Gershwin, performed for first time
“The audience packed a house that could have been sold out at twice the size,” wrote New York Times critic Olin Downes on February 13, 1924, of a concert staged the previous afternoon at the Aeolian Hall in New York City. Billed as an educational event, the “Experiment In Modern Music” concert was organized by Paul Whiteman, the immensely popular leader of the Palais Royal Orchestra, to demonstrate that the relatively new form of music called jazz deserved to be regarded as a serious and sophisticated art form. The program featured didactic segments intended to make this case - segments with titles like “Contrast: Legitimate Scoring vs. Jazzing.” After 24 such stem-winders, the house was growing restless. Then a young man named George Gershwin, then known only as a composer of Broadway songs, seated himself at the piano to accompany the orchestra in the performance of a brand new piece of his own composition, called Rhapsody In Blue.
“It starts with an outrageous cadenza of the clarinet,” wrote Downes of the now-famous two-and-a-half-octave glissando that makes Rhapsody in Blue as instantly recognizable as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. “It has subsidiary phrases, logically growing out of it… often metamorphosed by devices of rhythm and instrumentation.” The music critic of the New York Times was in agreement with Whiteman’s basic premise: “This is no mere dance-tune set for piano and other instruments,” he judged. “This composition shows extraordinary talent, just as it also shows a young composer with aims that go far beyond those of his ilk.” (more at history.com)
Amazing piece written on 5 8:17 weeks by a composer "too busy" staging a Broadway show to write the full concerto Whiman wanted.
Happy birthday Mr. Gershwin (September 26, 2012). You should have had many, many more.
agreed
Histopathology examination revealed a “spongioblastoma multiforme” (which today is regarded as a malignant glioma). Without regaining consciousness after the operation, Gershwin died on the morning of July 11th, 1937.
I'm a huge fan of Rhapsody in Blue, have been since I got into vintage music in 2000s, and this earliest acoustic record is so special. I like how the clarinet kind of laughs at the beginning.... And of course that ethereal part at 5:38. it's my favorite, I love to hear different versions by different musicians, the way they handle it.... You may hear a banjo here, that's interesting.
5:38 is my favorite too. it has such a very big impact to me .😊
This is the first recording, and the original instrumentation (done by an arranger but to Gershwin's instructions). It was later re-orchestrated a couple of times, for larger and larger forces.
Banjos were often used in jazz/dance bands at that period.
Hear this version LIVE at The Soraya CPA on November 16, 2024 for the 100th anniversary!
What's wild is that he wrote this epic, immortal masterpiece at 25. Get it? 25! This is my favorite version, first, it has GG himself, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, that killer "laughing" clarinet, and I love the rawness of it, the passion that seems to be lacking in later recordings. I love it, always have.
Edit: Now it's been 100 years since this was recorded. A century later it still packs the same emotional punch. RIP George, you left way too soon. ❤
After growing up with the smooth, Previn version, the first time hearing this, I wasn't sure whether I should cringe or laugh.
On the second go...WOW.
This....is....it !
I like the original version because it has a very spontaneous quality about it; I have read that the origianal performance was indeed spontaneous and improvised, with the band trying to follow Gershwin's exquisite play. All other versions have sought to capture the same quality and have fallen short, in my humble opinion.
This song, and this version, is one reason I love America - and I'm not American! It tells me the story of your history, your country, your drive and your optimism. I feel it through this music and I find it all so inspiring. This composition has contributed to the rich tapestry of the human arts, of which it can proudly take its place amongst the greatest of all the other achievements of civilisation.
I could not agree more with your opinion.
1000% agree! ❤
George Gershwin is 25 here. Twenty. Five.
Niel Peart was 23-24 when writing 2112 .
R.I.P to both musical geniuses.
How far we have fallen in just under 100 years
Brian Wilson was also 23-24 when he wrote Pet Sounds and Smile
Dare I say most classic albums are written by kids in their early/mid 20s. In the case of Nas he was 19.
@clszm There is so much that is great about this performance - and not just because it is the original. From Ross Gorman's laughing clarinet, to Gershwin's uncanny rhythm. Listen carefully to Gershwin's playing and you'll find it has more in common with the great pianists of the past such as Hofmann and Rachmaninoff than more modern pianists - including Bernstein. There is beautiful tone, a natural rubato, even distribution of the hands - and of course a wonderful sense of rhythm.
Each instrument oozing their personality. Superbe.
I saw the Reno Philharmonic do this on Tuesday. They took away most of the orchestra and played it as Gershwin wrote it, a rare event according to the conductor, Laura Jackson. And, listening to this old recording, I believe it!
So, so much time has passed. This still sounds amazing.
Marvelous! Thanks a lot! A very touching moment... 100 years masterpiece.
Brilliant clarinetist!
Yes! 💯🔥
It feels like watching a very old cartoon. Rhapsody in Blue is one of my favourite pieces of music. Thanks for the upload!
This was the music that ushered in the cartoon era, it's pure music at its finest.
What amazing and marveleus is to hear mthe original Rapsody in blue with Gerswin on the piano and the Paul Whiteman Orquestra recorded in 1924 90m years from now and still new and unforgettable. Also all the other recordings specially Astaire singing with Gershwin on the piano.
love it. it catches all the players individual nuances something that cannot be done with an orchestra. thanks so much for posting.
Such a breakthrough song..think, just a few years before this, songs like 'over there' and 'keep the home fires burning' were the top songs, which still had a very Victorian "family singing around the piano" kind of sound, this really took music into the modern age of the 20s.
It's interesting to enjoy the evolution of the recording technique from 1924 to the present time, but always expressing the same contagious emotional content that Gershwin and his interpreters pass on to us and will continue to pass on forever!
Gee, that clarinet sounds like an old.creepy dude laughing...so amazing.
with a Klezmer influence !!!
Docterry Big fat juicy Klezmer influence- nobody quite manages it after, at least the dozen I’ve heard😢
maybe Naftule Brandwein was playing here
there's something similar in Georges Enescu rumanian rhapsody ( or poème roumain ) , you can hear a little piece of jumping klezmzer clarinet- same people , but two different sides of the ocean
manor kwesta Lol I know what you mean- but it was Ross Gorman, and by all accounts he wasn’t Jewish, which begs the question how did he get so familiar with Klezmer?
Bring back silliness
Only 1920's kids will remember.
Absolutely magical, raw and raunchy, not like the familiar modern orchestral arrangements.
I agree, though the larger orchestrations were done not that long after the original jazz band version.
The actual 100 year anniversary of the Aeolian Hall debut of this piece is February 12, 2024
making a sequel called Rhapsody in Green as Sammerson Bridge! available everywhere this august. c:
@mightybruno It's a tragedy for the world of music that Gershwin died just short of his 39th birthday.No telling what kind of additional great works could have been added to his catalog.If he had lived into the '50's or '60's,he might have dabbled with rock'n'roll,possibly also in country & western.If you can come across Bennett Cerf's tribute,read it,it's very good.
It's funny, if you go to settings and slow this down to .75 it sounds more like what we are used to hearing, at least in the orchestra parts. The piano solos seemed to be at a reduced tempo in this recording that we are used to.
According to Wikipedia, «To get the whole piece onto two sides of a 12-inch record it had to be played at a faster speed than usual in a concert, which gave it a hurried feel and some rubato was lost.»
@@Kurremkarmerruk1 I'm not sure i agree. There are massive cuts to make it fit, but the tempos are actually slower than Gershwin's piano roll versions, which don't have the same time constraints. Yes, not as much rubato, but that's to be expected. A solo pianist will always take more liberties than an orchestra or band.
O my god- listen to those trumpets completely over the top vibratos! They will never play it this way now! It just breathes life into the piece
This is supposed to be public domain now, so why does it still specify a copyright license?!?
United airline theme for many years, will always remind me when I stayed in NYC!!!
this is one of the best, true,versions that I have heard. No editing or over orchestrating
Awesome❤ Dear old Rhapsody.
90 Years Later
Anthony Lorenzo Perez would he have realized??
95 years later
@@obadiahpear its in public domain everyone!
100 now
Gershwin was a genius!
judging how rudimentar was at that time the technology of making the recordings... the sound on this one is amazing...
So true 💯
what a lovely rendition! Thank you David Bruce... and of course Mr. Gershwin and the original band :)
Wow, I'd never heard this. I much, much prefer this to the big sweeping orchestral versions I always heard growing up thanks to United Airlines.
There's a magic here that just wasn't there when Leonard Bernstein conducted the piece, as incredible as that performance was. There's something really special about this
making a sequel called Rhapsody in Green as Sammerson Bridge! available everywhere this august. all authentic instrumentation recorded exclusively with analog technology.
@ignaz1882 the most notable and impressive thing about Gershwin's pianism in this recording is his sparing use of the pedal. Gershwin in general is meant to be played pretty dry, and here you have it with Gershwin himself showing us exactly how to do it
yes, he even wrote in the composition that this kind of music should be played with a detached feel, different from european romanticism
@@bigdick3228 I play my Gershwin pretty romantic but I know my sin
Beautiful, yes, but with about half of the Rhapsody cut. :(
The really neat part of the story about this song, was that Gershwin, didn't write the solos... he just named the soloist, and left the music up to the musician.
Animated graphical score: th-cam.com/video/bK98TmMoDEk/w-d-xo.html
私がまだ自動車工場の新人だった頃、よく踊ったなぁ
地下の酒場でこれを聴きながらサツにバレずにこっそり酒を飲んでたなぁ
そこで大親友であるビリーとこの酒場で知り合ったんだ
私はこいつを黒人ではなく友達という観点で接し、この曲で2人で踊ったもんさ。
周りにはだいぶ変わり者みたいな扱いをされたがな
ビリーとは今も文通をしている。あいつはあの摩天楼のようにピンピンしている
私は隙あらば自分語りしてしまう性格でねぇ、申し訳ない。ついつい懐かしくなってねぇ
i'm in tears over this song
Simply marvelous!
Music history! Thanks for posting this for our easy listening access.
Good song even 86 years it still famous
Hello? How’s your day been going?
thankyou for this 1 still sounding great after 60 odd years x
Thanks very much for sharing this.
Yes, excellent . . . the very best - you can almost imagine you're in 20's New York . . .
this kind of music was taboo at that time though
@@bigdick3228 no it was not, you are not talking about Scott Joplin and such, it was not, it was extremely popular, rightfully
@@teomusic7531 it was only popular because it was done by a white composer, and even then it was controversial. Part of the appeal of white men doing jazz or rock n' roll was the provocative nature of the music (as the whites viewed it).
@@bigdick3228 yeah, it was popular because he was white to some, some degree.
Until I heard this, I often wondered why they called Rhapsody in Blue jazz, Even the 1927 recording was refined compared to this version. By 1942 it had become a standard. I don't believe the raw energy captured here or the innovation allowed by Whiteman and Gershwin here have been reproduced.
Gershwin composed this very quickly, due to a deadline he forgot about or wasn’t told. He composed the orchestra part on the piano ,and Ferde Grofe orchestrated it. However the solo piano was not written down at all. Gershwin remembered/improvised it. There are several sources for this including an interview with Paul Whiteman.
At the time these jazz bits were brand new.
Damn good stuff after almost 100 years.
You can have all the polished recordings of this you like, but the one for me is this 1924 original, played by George as he intended it to sound. Warts and all.
5:39 sounds totally different - is that a saxophone or what?? Usually you just hear a warm rush of strings. The circular riff is more deliberate, too. I LOVE the little solo bit on piano, how reflective it is, like hearing his thoughts.
Yes it is a tenor saxophone playing the melody beautifully...... 😊 I wonder what this generation would think of this kind of music..... Thoughts anyone????
I'm 24 currently, and I can assure you that I HATE almost all modern music. I love everything from classical to rock, but hardly anything newer than 2000. I would gladly take a piece like this one over ANY of the "music" being produced now. I'm a little ashamed of my generation for not understanding what music actually is.
i think it’s really pretty. sounds like a tenor or a viola
@@TheDrummerDude17 modern music and older music are both good, there's no need for snobbery
@@feralcatgirl I just disagree.
Tremendous! Thank you for posting it!
@dlsofsetx i totally agree it's amazing how many different emotions he was able to express in just one composition creating a really beautiful story
At the end of this performance, someone stood up in the audience, and shouted that Gershwin was crazy. Mind you they only knew these old classical music then...
If by old classical music you mean Stravinsky, Bartok and Schoenberg, then yes. Much more radical music was being made at that time, but what's shocking in the Rhapsody is the heavy jazz influence which left pretentious concert goers wondering if they payed to hear classical and got jazz instead (God forbid!).
@@0live0wire0 Thank you!
He reportedly said "you may not like it, but your kids are gonna love it" or something to that effect. I believe that's where Michael J. Fox gets that line in Back To The Future.
Henry Busse on Trumpet
The best ever.
This is amazing! I was waiting to hear how they would execute the "romantic" part at 5:38...it's completely different to the orchestral version. You don't hear Rachmaninoff-esque grandeur. Instead a bluesy "comic" approach is implemented, like those silent comedy scenes where some poor guy tries to serenade a women way out of his league.
It's so Buster Keaton.
I love this so much☝🏻❤️
@babehuiy It's my absolute favorite!IMHO,the greatset composition ever.
Humanity's peak 1920's. One Hundred Years Ago
For other source-related info & comments see archive (dot) org (slash) details (slash) rhapblue11924 (end) (for part 1) and (ditto) 21924 (for part 2)
Let's fly the friendly skies together!
Well said and I agree.
Great song
Yes it is!
Best version
Sounds so much like Glen Miller! What a difference 99 years can make - thanks for sharing!
The world lost both men FAR too soon - Gershwin to a tumor and Miller to a (completely avoidable) plane crash. We'll never know how popular music would have changed if they'd been with us into the 1970s 😢
Miller's genius was as an editor rather than composer. He made multiple cuts to fit the main theme onto one side of a 78, just as he'd done with _In the Mood._ He also did a somewhat similar arrangement with the full AAF Orchestra including the string section:
th-cam.com/video/oy1dZ3yQ7cc/w-d-xo.html
P.S. He spelled his name "Glenn"
Wow
oooh, public domain : ) i think ill appropriate this
the monochromatic sounds sincere but simplistic, the poly chromatic sounds more profound but overwrought. The composition bounces between the two in perfect balance,
I like how they have to flip the 78 rpm record over at 4:37.
Beginning sounds like a laughing fox. But an absolute masterpiece
Would Bix Beiderbecke have been the trumpet at this point? Or did he come a little later?
トムとジェリーを想い起こす昔のアメリカ風メロディがいい。
Now in the public domain.
Anybody know the technique that's used to produce that weird noise on the clarinet at 0:20?
The clarinet player is bending the pitches with his embouchure. The clarinet is very flexible.
I have a request.. Some years ago, I saw a video here in youtube, where a lot of musicians were playing this song.
And 2 women playing, one at the piano and the other playing the clarinet in a bar.
The video begin with the clarinet lady playing, looking the piano girl´s eyes, and suddenly in the part were the Brass starts playing, all of the musicians appears playing and getting inside the bar...
It was like a competition between those 2 girls.
It looked like a 50-60´s videos beacuse it has no color and the clothes they were wearing was like the "Godfathers Movies"
I´m looking for that video about 3 years. I can´t find it here, not even in vimeo or another kind of page were u can find videos.
Can anyone help me to find it?
Sorry my bad english. Spanish is my mother tongue...
This is the performance of Ilana Vered, an Istaeli pianist. You could find it on Youatube under her name
Oscar Levant was the 1st to record it. The pianist who was supposed to play it didn't know how. Levant was there with Gershwin & watched him compose it. Levant could play it better than anyone. He's still the best!
For comparison, here’s the 1927 version: th-cam.com/video/PA3ryT2HJK4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=CVsBq3HqKsXHl15s
Orchestration by Ferde Grofe!
of all performances this is the one I would liked to have witnessed. The genius, pure in the raw, not polished.
Hello? How are you doing?
is tht a clarinet solo?? i thought it was oboe...u know the tiny thing tht looks like a mini clarinet....
Yes, it is a clarinet.
Is this a recording of the actual February 12, 1924 concert at Aeolian Hall in New York that was broadcast on the radio? If not, when was this recorded?
How’s life going?
I just love the true clarinet gliss in the intro.